Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-associated stigma is pervasive throughout the world. This stigma affects the ability of HIV-positive individuals to cope with their illness and it also affects behaviors around sexual practices, disclosure to others and the use of healthcare. The purpose of the research project was to examine the experience of internalized stigma among HIV-positive persons and their perceptions of stigmatizing attitudes in the community. The study also examined disclosure of HIV serostatus and identified factors contributing to disclosure and stigma in Senegal, a low prevalence Muslim country in West Africa. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Fann in the form of a structured interview using a newly developed stigma instrument. The interviews were carried out in French and/or Wolof and the participants were interviewed during a routine visit to Fann Hospital. 15 men and 28 women aged between 19 and 55 years participated in the study. The mean period of time since diagnosis was 3.6 years (+/- 2.5 years). The stigma instrument showed a mean internalized stigma score of 5.4 +/- 3.5 (maximum score: 15) and an even higher level of perceived stigmatizing attitudes in the community of 7.9 +/- 4.8. Males had greater stigma scores than females. Almost 80 percent of the people interviewed had received some counseling, yet less than two-thirds of the study participants had disclosed their HIV status to others. People who had disclosed their HIV status used counseling less. The majority of subjects reported positive experiences with healthcare personnel in the Infectious Diseases Clinic of Fann Hospital. The level of internalized stigma and the perception of stigmatizing attitudes in the community are high with males experiencing more guilt. About three-fifths of the participants in the study had not disclosed their HIV status to even one other person; men disclosed their serostatus more frequently than women. Women were more likely to use counseling services compared to their male counterparts, and individuals who had disclosed their serostatus attended counseling less. Finally, despite the level of stigma perceived, the majority of people interviewed reported positive experiences with healthcare workers.

From 1900 to 1944, public health was a pillar of the French colonial project in French West Africa. African medical workers became the backbone of the Native Medical Service, which sought to “grow the race” (faire du noir) and popularize French cultural ideals while improving the general health of the African population and combating epidemic diseases. Through successive yellow fever and plague epidemics, the Medical Service honed a set of health measures that it utilized in epidemic outbreaks. These health measures remained largely unchanged throughout the period. The political environment and the reactions of African residents, especially residents of the Four Communes, to these anti-epidemic measures did change though. Intermittent popular resistance to health measures, along with persistent personnel shortages, budget constraints, the sparsely settled population, and the vast land area of West Africa conspired to make the goals of the Native Medical Service difficult to achieve. An examination of the internal profile (personnel numbers, job descriptions, evaluations, organization and organizational changes, and policies) of the Native Medical Service from 1900 - 1944 demonstrates some of the aspects of how the ideology of French colonialism was at odds with itself and with colonial realities. The Native Medical Service was an arm of the colonial government in areas where it was weak, such as spreading French civilization and appreciation for French culture. Despite being used to compensate for some of the government’s shortcomings, the Native Medical Service experienced disjunctions between its goals and the means to achieve them that hindered its effectiveness. The ideological core of French colonialism was built around the Civilizing Mission, development (la mise en valeur), and the myth of the indissolubility of Greater France. The widespread French belief in African inferiority and that the benefits of French imperial rule to the subject peoples outweighed the drawbacks both worked against the success of French goals in West Africa to spread their civilization, foster economic and human development, and form a lasting addition to France Outre-Mer. / text

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L’arrivée des femmes d’Afrique sur le champ de la littérature écrite était attardée à cause d’un ensemble des facteurs, nommément: la scolarisation insuffisante des filles, le facteur familial, culturel, religieux. Avant les indépendances, l’image de la femme africaine présentée dans l’écriture des romanciers africains était très dégradante. Elle a été présentée comme objet de domination patriarcale, qui n’avait ni voix ni personnalité. Les femmes africaines étaient vues comme des personnes qui devaient accomplir les travaux routiniers du foyer sans poser des questions. Elles acceptaient leur condition car elles n’avaient pas les moyens et la détermination de réfuter ou de rejeter la subjugation de l’homme. Heureusement, l’indépendance de la plupart des pays francophones en 1960 a incité des transformations sociales qui affectaient les femmes dans tous les aspects de vie. Avec la proclamation en 1970 de l’Année internationale de l’éducation, l’Unesco a abrogé l’inégalité d’accès des femmes à l’éducation. L’instruction permettait ainsi à la femme de se réveiller et de prendre conscience de sa position inférieure. Les nouvelles technologies, telles que la presse et la radio, ont contribué aux changements des mentalités de femmes. Ainsi, après un long silence qui a suivi la publication de Ngonda de la Camerounaise Marie-Claire Matip, publié en 1956, et Rencontres essentielles d’une autre Camerounaise Thérèse Kuoh Moukoury en 1969, les premiers ouvrages littéraires féminins ont été publiés au milieu des années 1970, précisément, 1975, consacré années internationale de la femme. En bref, la littérature féminine d’Afrique francophone est devenue une littérature engagée et un moyen puissant de conscientisation. Dans leur écriture les écrivaines condamnaient l’oppression des hommes à travers les thèmes majeurs tels que le mariage, la polygamie, la circoncision, etc. Elles ont commencé à décrire les femmes africaines comme intelligentes, actives, capables, déterminées et à la recherche de justice. On note que le Sénégal est le premier territoire d’Afrique francophone, avec une prédominance islamique, qui a produit un grand nombre de romancières. Elles ont écrit et exposé les multiples tendances sociales qui affectent les sénégalaises, parmi lesquelles la polygamie (Stringer, 1996 :15). Ces multiples tendances amènent les critiques littéraires à considérer les divers thèmes analytiques du problème de l’oppression des femmes au Sénégal et en Afrique en général. Néanmoins, cette recherche littéraire a pour objectif d’analyser le thème de la polygamie et ses conséquences négatives sur les enfants et les hommes dans Une si longue lettre de Mariama Bâ, La Grève des bàttu d’Aminata Sow Fall et Le Ventre de l’Atlantique de Fatou Diome. L’accent jusqu’à présent était sur les effets délétères sur les femmes, sans l’analyse de son impact négatif sur les hommes et les enfants. C’est sur ce fond que cette recherche va tenter d’évaluer les raisons cachées de la polygamie et jusqu'à quel point la polygamie abaisse les hommes et mène à l’abus des enfants. Nous allons citer les cas tiré des oeuvres des trois auteurs féminines qui sont citoyennes du Sénégal. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

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Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. / Met lit. opg. - Met samenvatting in het Engels.

Zugl.: Münster (Westfalen), Univ., Magisterarbeit, 2004

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2006. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-157).

Participation is present as one of the most important factors to achieve sustainable change in human development. Communication and dialogue are amongst the most important tools to create participation. This qualitative study is trying to find out what methods are being used by development professionals to create communication and dialogue. It also studies the development professionals conception of communication with beneficiaries and their view of the beneficiary itself. The data was retrieved from five semi-structural interviews with development professionals active in community development or empowerment. The most important conclusions were that communication with beneficiaries appears to be perceived as consulting the beneficiary, that beneficiaries only are being involved in decisions concerning their proximate reality on a local level, that the beneficiary is most commonly viewed upon as equal, student or passive and that there seems to be a discrepancy between the development professionals’ official discourse, personal opinion and actual practice.